OMG OMG

What I've been doing instead of blogging.

I logged on to make a post this morning, and nearly gasped at the realization that the last time I posted was August 4.  And today is August 18.  Ugh.

Not that I think I have thousands of worshiping adorers out there, refreshing their browsers every 5 minutes, waiting for a new post about my animals to come up.  But I did make a personal vow to post every weekday--that's five days a week--and now I've really broken that vow.

However, it's not completely my fault.  After the August 4th post, my cell phone decided to stop charging, and I use my cell for everything--including internet service.  So I was without the internet for over a week while I waited for Amazon to ship my new charger (because Verizon doesn't sell them anymore--and they won't let me get an early upgrade--thanks, Verizon.  I'm glad that 10 years of on-time payments means so much to you.) 

Anyway, once I got my cell up and working again, I went on vacation with my Mom to Wisconsin Dells.  We had a great time, staying in a really nice motel with a great view, wearing belly packs, and touristing it up.  Then I leave on a quick weekend 11th Anniversary getaway tomorrow, but I promise I'll be back to posting adorable pictures and stories of my naughty cats next week.

For those who are curious (and there are at least one or two of you out there, right?), my clan are all doing well.  Indy is UTI-free for the time being and is eating relatively well.  The cats are being fairly harmonious, Isis is Isis, and Cimba has been neglected by Midwest-travelling me but has been well cared for by friends Nikki and Cassie.

Until Monday, my friends...

I Need A Vacation

I need a vacation. My last trip was in August, nearly 5 months ago. I don't do well with long breaks between trips. Jim and I both have this itch to travel and experience the world. We have to have some trip in the works or we get antsy. Well, we do have a trip planned for next month, and apparently it's not holding me, because I have the urge to RUN AWAY NOW!

I love my life and my family and friends, but sometimes I just need to get away from it all. I need to get away from the drama that others create, from the difficulties in my own life. While we're away, I miss my animals, and I worry about them, but I feel so relaxed and happy. I love learning, and experiencing, and I yearn for that again. 5 months is too long.

We are really blessed to have wonderful family and friends in our lives who look after our furry family for us. The dogs go to my Mom and Dad's house, and a good friend stays with our cats. Another good friend stops in and gives Indiana her daily kidney fluids. So I know my babies are well taken care of. Plus, I make my Mom email me every morning with a "baby update," and I call home every evening. I still get anxious about leaving, and I even feel guilty too. With my limited time left with Indiana, I question whether I should be away. Not because something would happen while I'm gone (though Mr. Squiggles went missing while we were in Paris), but because someday when she's gone, I know I'd give anything to have an extra week with her. How can I go away for a week when that time is so precious?

The answer is simple. I have no choice. My heart needs for me to travel. I can leave on my trip and come back a better person, a better Mom. It makes me appreciate more what I have left back home. And selfishly, traveling just makes me happy. I do so little purely for myself. Is a few weeks a year too much to ask? So I go away on these trips, limiting myself to only so many nights away, only so many hours away, knowing that I have made the best preparations as possible for my family. And I come back enriched, relaxed, maybe more tired than when I left, but definitely a better person for it.

'A Traveling We Will Go

A few weeks ago, Jim and I went out of town for 5 days, the first time we've traveled since Mr. Squiggles went missing while on vacation in Paris. After Indiana was diagnosed with kidney disease back in October, we thought our days of vacationing were over. Daily kidney fluids and shots multiple times a week were too much to foist on my parents, our usual dog-sitters. Plus, a fiasco with our (now-ex) cat sitter a few months ago left us without someone to watch our cats. Getting away for more than a night seemed impossible.

But, alas, Jim and I were both born with a ferocious desire to experience the world, and going too long without traveling makes us cranky and unsettled. Back B.C. (Before Cancer, as we refer to life now), we went on 4-5 trips a year. After Cancer, we thought we'd never travel again, but the travel bug bit us, and we eventually settled into a routine of 2 big trips and a couple of weekend getaways a year. So when disease struck again, it was natural to vow to stop traveling, but also completely unrealistic.

Jim had the opportunity to represent the United States at the World Sudoku Championship in Philadelphia, the third time he's earned this honor. The competition is really important to him, so of course we'd find a way for him to go. But selfishly, I wanted to go along too. I knew I'd be a nervous wreck staying at home, wondering how it was going, whether he was doing well, whether he was frustrated. We knew we had to find a way to make it work. We'd see.

Everything needed to fall into place simultaneously. We needed sitters for the animals, we needed someone to do Indiana's kidney fluids, and I needed to make sure I could get the weekend off from work (but still make it back in time for a Sunday afternoon concert--yes, I am crazy.) A flash of genius made us ask Jim's parents, who are very busy but retired, to come stay with all four pets at our house. Being the wonderful people they are, they agreed. Yay! One big hurdle overcome. Next up was fluids. Our only option, really, was the vet tech at our vet's office, Amanda. She's amazing and kind, and we were hoping she'd be willing to help us out. Allelujia! She was! Last on the list was work, and since my choir director is one of the nicest, most understanding people on the planet, he was fine with my plan to fit both travel and work into one weekend. Gosh! I have the best people in my life!

Jim and I were astonished that everything fit together so easily for us. Perhaps it was meant to be? Were our fates changing? Meticulous planning let us leave for the trip knowing our kids were in good hands, and we had finished our escape-proof cat fencing about a month prior, so we knew our feline babies were safe from harm. We left for the trip confident that all would be well, and though we checked on our clan every day, I was amazingly able to relax and not worry every moment. We returned home from a fantastic weekend with great memories, new friends, and proof that good things actually do happen sometimes. We can leave for a vacation, and our world won't always fall apart.

Our 10th wedding anniversary is approaching in August, and we had always planned on returning to Hawaii to celebrate. (Our wedding was Hawaiian-themed and we spent our honeymoon in Oahu). While our successful trip to Philadelphia taught us that it's probably safe to go away, we still aren't comfortable being an 8+ hour flight away from home. Should (God forbid) something happening with Indiana, we're more comfortable sticking to the continental United States, where we could fly home lickity-split. So the plan is Disney World, but we'll stay at the Polynesian Resort to satisfy our Hawaiian craving.

We still have things to figure out--cat sitter and fluid-giver, but we're confident we can make it work. And when we go, we'll know that the babies are in good hands. I'll still call home every day though--let's not get ridiculous.